Ever since Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen were confirmed to come back in X-Men: Days of Future Past, fans have speculated about who else would be returning from the previous X-Men films. Soon after Hugh Jackman was said to be coming back as Wolverine, but to be honest everyone knew that was coming. However since then there hasn’t been anyone else announced and it has made some wonder if anyone else would be coming back at all, but now it seems we are getting even more familiar faces as this article from superherohype explains:

“Since the announcement of X-Men: Days of Future Past, the cast has continued to grow as actors from both the original X-Men and X-Men: First Class are set to appear in the film. Now even more alumni from the original films have been confirmed for the sequel. Director Bryan Singer tweeted this afternoon that Anna Paquin (Rogue), Ellen Page (Kitty Pryde), and Shawn Ashmore (Iceman) will all be back for the film. He then thanked X-Men: The Last Stand director Brett Ratner for having their characters survive.

What role these characters play in the plot is yet to be determined, but the return of Ellen Page as Kitty Pryde is a potential good omen as her character was a focal point of the original comic book storyline.

Other cast members confirmed to return for the movie include Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, and Hugh Jackman.

Scheduled for release on July 18, 2014, X-Men: Days of Future Past features a script by Simon Kinberg and is said to be inspired Chris Claremont and John Byrne’s comic book storyline that ran in “Uncanny X-Men” #141 and 142 back in 1981. “Days of Future Past” introduced the idea of an alternate future for Marvel’s mutants that grew out of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants killing an important senator, leading to a future where all mutants are hunted by Sentinels.”

Well this both a surprise but at the same time to be expected. While I’m not too fussed about the return of Rogue (purely because in the films she wasn’t nearly as cool or interesting as she was in comics or 90s cartoon), but seeing the return of Iceman makes me smile (because he’s one of my favourite X-Men) and Kitty while I wasn’t too keen on her portrayal in the films I do like her comic book counterpart. Rouge and Iceman were good in X-Men 2 and I did like what they got to do in that film. However X-Men 3 made both of them along with Kitty characters I no longer respected which was mainly down to how their characters were handled and their lack of likeability. But what really bugged me was how much more there was to these characters in terms of personality and powers which were ignored completely.

Though I am happy that they’re back purely because comic book films have changed a lot since 2006, they’re treated more seriously with better stories, dialogue and action and just seeing how these characters could be upgraded on-screen makes my imagination all crazy. This could also be an occasion to apply some of their comic book elements and put them into the film. Well that’s highly doubtful that it’ll happen, but one can always live in hope.